Sunday, July 15, 2007

With Tennisrulz.com's merry world traveler, more commonly known as Pierre Cantin, continent-jumping once again, "Backspin Volley" takes a slightly different form this time around. Rather than one come-one-come-all potpourri of opinions, Monsieur Cantin and myself will offer dueling prediction columns. First, your's truly...

...are we going to see a still-reinvigorated Venus, or is Wimbledon going to be her last big result until a future date TBD? It'll be interesting to see how "La Trufflette" responds to her first exposure to the WTA Big Time. Remember, her three career titles have all come on hard courts.

...Chakvetadze has a tone of points to defend in the 4Q. Petrova didn't have a great 2Q, but it wasn't an abject disaster and her good grass court results helped her regain her Top 10 ranking. With few 3Q points to defend, Petrova might be able to outpace her new #9 prediction if she can carry over her "mini-surge."

...Henin is still the most consistent player on tour, and it'll take a dropoff/injury PLUS a healthy Serena or a streaking Supernova (you know what I mean) for her to lose the #1 ranking. Jankovic says she'll play a bit less the rest of the season (I'll believe it when I see it...but she's not in Cincy this week, and that's a start), but she might need all those results to maintain her ranking since she'll be defending that US Open SF in a year when (supposedly) both Williams sisters could be forces in the draw. AnaIvo has found the consistency she didn't have in '06, which is good since she's defending her US Open Series (and Rogers Cup) crown during the 3Q. If you're looking for a player who might make the TRUE step up to the big time this quarter (and, remember, this is a player who's already reached a slam final and SF this summer), it's her.

==NORTH AMERICAN HARD COURT SEASON==

NORTH AMERICAN SUCCESS IS MOST IMPORTANT TO:Maria Sharapova...the Supernova still hasn't won a title in '07, is still having shoulder issues and, even with two slam SF-or-better results under her stylish belt, might need a major result (RU or better) in New York to "save" a season with very high expectations, for '07 is in danger of being written off as a "lost/transitional" year.

NORTH AMERICAN SUCCESS IS LEAST IMPORTANT TO:Venus Williams...she already has her title. And, anyway, things are different for Venus at Wimbledon than anywhere else. Even though she has two US Open titles, and made her first major final there in 1997, her career legacy has and will not be built upon her NYC exploits. If she wins one or more additional slams in her career, they'll probably all come at the All-England Club. In other words, if she has a successful N.A. campaign, good for her... but if she doesn't, it doesn't really matter too much. That being said, Venus' MVP-in-an-ultimately-losing-effort weekend in Fed Cup play DOES offer a hint that she might not be finished making headlines in 2007.

MOST LIKELY POISED FOR GREATNESS?:Ana Ivanovic...AnaIvo won the US Open Series and Rogers Cup Tier I in '06. It was her only SF result all season. In 2007, she's already had five SF-or-better results (two of them at slams). The serene Serb might be ready to become the first of the Fantastovic Serbs to win a slam.

MOST LIKELY LURCHING TOWARD DISASTER?:Martina Hingis...the Year After for Hingis is turning into a deja vu nightmare reminiscent of why she left the game in the first place. Injuries and being blown off the court by more powerful players has a way of making a player wonder if it's worth the effort. One former US Open champ has already walked away from the tour on the eve of her marriage -- should we keep a watchful eye on the Swiss Soon-to-be-Mrs.?

3 Comments:

It hurts to say this, but I think it's my favorite tennis player, Elena Dementieva. Hingis doesn't have a lot of points to defend in the hardcourt season, where Dementieva has to defend Los Angeles and a US Open quarterfinal.

Dementieva usually has great results at the US hardcourts but there's something really different this year. And I've always felt that after her loss to Jankovic at last year's US Open QF, Dementieva was never the same. :(

I'm not losing hope on her. After all, she almost always brings her best at the US Open.